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🏟 | Estadio Cuauht\u00e9moc – Puebla, Mexico<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
With a spot in the Concacaf Champions Cup Semifinals on the line, LAFC travels to Puebla, Mexico, for the second leg of its Quarterfinal series against defending CCC champions Cruz Azul.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
LAFC holds a 3-0 lead on aggregate goals in the two-game, home-and-away series, and would advance to the CCC Semifinals for the third time in club history with a win or a draw. LAFC would also advance if it loses the second leg by a score of 0-1, 0-2, 1-2, 1-3, or 1-4.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
If Cruz Azul were to win Tuesday\u2019s second leg 3-0\u2014tying the series 3-3 on aggregate goals\u2014the Quarterfinal would immediately move to two 15-minute periods of extra time to determine a winner, followed by penalty kicks if necessary.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
In sum: despite LAFC\u2019s current three-goal lead this series is far from over, especially with 90 minutes to be played against Cruz Azul, whose roster is rich with talent and whose history is filled with trophies. The seven-time champions have played more matches, logged more wins, and scored more goals than any other Mexican team in this competition.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
While confident in its own quality, LAFC knows the danger that trips to Mexico can bring. In this year\u2019s Round of 16, San Diego FC took a 3-2 lead into its second leg against Deportivo Toluca before falling 4-0 and bowing out of the competition. Another MLS side, FC Cincinnati, led Tigres 3-0 after the first leg of their Round-of-16 series then got ambushed in the second leg, 5-1.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
In last year\u2019s Champions Cup Quarterfinals, LAFC built a 2-0 aggregate-goals advantage over Inter Miami during the second leg before three unanswered Miami goals sent LAFC home.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
In LAFC’s favor: the Black & Gold has scored in nine consecutive away matches in Concacaf Champions Cup, tying the longest such streak by an MLS club in the modern era (since 2008), alongside D.C. United (2009\u20132015).<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
The winner of this LAFC-Cruz Azul Quarterfinal will face the winner of the Toluca-Galaxy Quarterfinal.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Last week Toluca defeated the Galaxy 4-2 in their first leg in Mexico. The second leg is scheduled for Wednesday night, April 15, in Carson, Calif.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Concacaf Champions Cup is\u00a0a 27-team continental tournament that takes place from February through May and features the top 27 teams in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. The winner of the CCC Final on May 30 earns a berth in the FIFA Club World Cup in 2029.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Goals from Son Heung-Min (30\u2019) and David Mart\u00ednez (39\u2019, 58\u2019) guided LAFC to a 3-0 win over Cruz Azul in the first leg last Tuesday, on a rare night in which roughly half of the fans at BMO Stadium were wearing the visitors\u2019 colors\u2014in this case the royal blue of Cruz Azul.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
The clean sheet was the Black & Gold’s second in five matches in this competition and its eighth clean sheet in 12 matches in all competitions this year. In five CCC matches in 2026, LAFC has a record of 4W-0L-1D and has outscored opponents 13-3.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
LAFC\u2019s midfield and its back line were superb in the first leg, with midfielder Mathieu Choini\u00e8re logging two assists, but it was the playmaking of Son and the Man-of-the-Match performance by Martinez, who capped two lengthy dribbling runs with world-class finishes, that ruled the night.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Son has recorded seven goal contributions in his five Concacaf Champions Cup appearances this year (two goals, five assists).\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
The first leg also marked the return of Cruz Azul goalkeeper Kevin Mier, who won the competition\u2019s Goalkeeper of the Year award last year before breaking his leg in Liga MX play in November. The 25-year-old saved two of the five shots he faced against LAFC in the first leg. LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris saved all five of Cruz Azul\u2019s shots on target.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
After defeating Cruz Azul, LAFC traveled to Portland for a Saturday MLS match against the Timbers. LAFC head coach Marc Dos Santos made eight changes to his starting eleven and gave teenage midfielders Jude Terry and Matt Evans their first career starts, as a heavily-rotated Black & Gold side fell 2-1 on a late Portland goal at the 90+6\u2019 mark.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
That night, Cruz Azul played Club Am\u00e9rica to a 1-1 draw in a renewal of the emotional Cl\u00e1sico Joven<\/em> rivalry between the two Liga MX giants. Cruz Azul head coach\u00a0Nicol\u00e1s Larcam\u00f3n\u00a0made four changes to the lineup that started against LAFC, inserting striker Nicolas Iba\u00f1ez, winger Carlos Rotondi, defender Gonzalo Piovi, and goalkeeper Andr\u00e9s Gudi\u00f1o into his eleven. Former LAFC fullback Omar Campos scored for La M\u00e1china at the 45+3\u2019 mark to tie the match, but Cruz Azul could not find the winner.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Former LAFC winger Brian Rodriguez (who tallied eight MLS goals for the Black & Gold from 2019 to 2022) nearly scored twice for Am\u00e9rica but was denied by acrobatic saves from Gudi\u00f1o.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Iba\u00f1ez, the star striker acquired from Tigres earlier this year, left the game in the 38th minute with a lower body injury.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n With a capacity of 51,726, Estadio Cuauht\u00e9moc is the fourth-largest football stadium in Mexico. Built during preparations for the 1968 Summer Olympics, the stadium is named after the Mexican brewery Cuauht\u00e9moc-Moctezuma, and has hosted matches in the 1970 FIFA World Cup and the 1986 FIFA World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Estadio Cuauht\u00e9moc\u00a0is the longtime home of Liga MX side Club Puebla. Cruz Azul moved its home matches there in January due to scheduled renovations at its usual home in Mexico City, Estadio Azteca, which is 80 miles away.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n It scores a goal. So-called \u201caway goals\u201d are the tiebreaker in this competition, which in this case means that if LAFC were to score in Puebla on Tuesday night and lose the second leg 4-1, the Black & Gold would advance even though the series would be tied on aggregate goals, 4-4.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n In other words, if LAFC scores a single goal in regulation time, Cruz Azul would need to score\u00a0five<\/em> goals to move on to the Semifinals. That\u2019s a tall order against an LAFC team that has conceded five goals all year over 12 total matches.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n A combination of altitude, attacking quality, and Concacaf craziness strikes. This competition\u2014the entire confederation, really\u2014has become notorious for its unlikely outcomes, offbeat narratives, and inconsistent playing environments. Estadio Cuauht\u00e9moc is located about 7,200 feet above sea level\u20142,000 feet higher than the loftiest MLS stadium (Dick\u2019s Sporting Goods Park in Colorado). Foreign visitors have been known to struggle at that elevation over 90 minutes.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u201cYou didn’t see any wild celebrations because we know that this is only halftime,\u201d Dos Santos said after LAFC\u2019s win in the first leg. \u201cWe know how things can turn. I can tell you how Cincinnati felt before playing against Tigres, or how San Diego felt after beating Toluca. There is a second leg to be played in Mexico, and we haven’t forgotten that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\nABOUT ESTADIO CUAUHT\u00c9MOC<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
LAFC CAN WIN IF<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
CRUZ AZUL CAN WIN IF<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n